It’s also a dumb question because you’re interested in their bank for simple reasons: because they gave you an interview (or a potential interview) and because finance is a prestigious industry where you can make a lot of money.

A banker asking this question of you is like a supermodel asking Fogell why he’s “interested” in going on a date with her: because she is the most attractive woman that has ever shown interest in him.

As you’ll see below, this question can be more meaningful in other industries where companies are actually… different, but we’re just dealing with banks for now.

It’s not very complicated if you follow both of the points above. An “acceptable” answer in an interview might be something like:

“I’m interested in your bank because I’ve met quite a few people there already, including [Person Name 1], a VP in the New York office, and [Person Name 2], a Senior Associate in the San Francisco office, at an information session last month, and I’ve gotten along well with all of them. Also, I noticed you’ve been advising on lots of cross-border natural resources M&A deals lately, like [Company X]’s [$Y billion] acquisition of [Company Z], and I’m really interested in oil, gas, and mining and working on deals there.”

But I Haven’t Networked with Anyone There / I Can’t Find Out Anything About the Bank!

If you really haven’t spoken with anyone at the bank before, then no, don’t lie about it and claim that you have. This is fairly easy for banks to detect and it can only hurt you if you make up names, meetings, or informational interviews.

Instead, you’ll have to rely more on research and recent deals that the bank has advised on.

And if you can’t find either of those, then either it’s the most secretive bank in the universe or you don’t know how to use Google.

Remember that banks are sell-side institutions, so they have no incentive to hide the deals they advise on – they want to market themselves.

You could use other approaches here, such as talking about how a bank’s “strategy” is different from those of similar banks – expansion into a certain region or a flatter hierarchy, for example – but you need to be extremely certain of what you’re talking about or the interviewer will call you on it.

It’s easier to look up recent deal activity than it is to verify the bank’s “overarching strategy,” so these answers can be riskier.

What to Avoid

More interesting is what to avoid when answering this question.

For my own amusement, I searched online for suggestions on how to answer this question just before I started writing this article… and some of the suggested answers were shockingly bad – or sometimes just shockingly mediocre:

Say you like “the culture” – this is way too vague, sorry, especially since most banks have the same culture. If you want to use this argument, you need to back it up with names.

Say that “you applied everywhere” – do I really need to explain why this one is dumb?

Say that you want “exposure to bigger and more complex deals” (if it’s a boutique to bulge bracket move) – Not as dumb as the other answers, but a little too vague for my liking.

Say that you want “more hands-on client interaction” (if it’s a bulge bracket to boutique move) – Same issue as in #4 above – not a horrible answer, but you could make the same argument for almost any bank you’re interviewing with.

If your other interview and/or application answers are good, you have a great story, and you nail your technical questions, stating one of the answers above won’t sink your chances – well, except for #3 maybe – but why leave something as simple as this to chance?

The same strategy applies: cite the people you’ve met in this group and the recent deals the group has advised on.

Do you need to have networked with people in this specific group, or do you need to know deals that this specific group has done?

No.

It helps if you have or you do, of course – but you could just say that you’ve met people at this bank or that you know of deals that this bank has done, and then tie your interest back to your work experience and background:

You’re really interested in DCM because you previously worked at a state government agency going through a budget crisis due to high debt levels and required interest payments, and now you want to see how debt financing works on the corporate side.

One of your cousins is in the oil & gas business in Texas and just sold one of his oil fields, which made you interested in learning more about and working on natural resource deals.

You want to work in M&A because your family consists of serial killers and you’d like to continue the tradition of murdering dozens of people each year (this one was inserted to see if you’re still awake – please don’t actually use it).

You get the idea.

In Other Settings and Industries…

More broadly, the “Why Our Firm?” question is more interesting and relevant in areas like private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital because… wait for it… those firms CAN actually be different from each other.

Most of these buy-side funds tend to have a specific industry focus, a deal/investment size focus, or, for hedge funds, a specific trading strategy.

Also, while “the culture” is mostly the same at large banks, it can vary tremendously at these smaller investment firms because it’s heavily tied to the PM.

So it’s your job to research these factors in advance – yes, it’s easier for PE and VC – and then link the industry/strategy they focus on to your own experience.

“Sure. I’m very interested in technology companies because many of the healthcare companies I worked with relied heavily on new technology and were in the midst of upgrading all their systems, so it impacted me directly and we actually analyzed a few healthcare IT companies. On my own, I’ve also done some investing in my own portfolio in the tech space and, as one of the key growth areas in the economy, it’s especially interesting to me.”

That just explains why you’re interested in tech – after that, you would then go on to state all the usual reasons about why you want to do PE.

The key point is that you should tie your response to something you’ve done in the past, as opposed to a simple “interest” you have.

For example, working on a related deal or researching a related industry or investing all count as “doing” – just “liking” something or thinking it’s “interesting” count as… “not doing.”

Why Our Bank?

It’s the (specific names of) people! And the deals!

And please, nothing about “the culture” or “the smart and hard-working people.”

Unless you want to use the interviewer’s reaction to you as your answer to the “Greatest Failure” question in your next interview, of course.

About the Author

Brian DeChesare is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street. In his spare time, he enjoys memorizing obscure Excel functions, editing resumes, obsessing over TV shows, traveling like a drug dealer, and defeating Sauron.

I am currently writing out my answers for “Why this role / our bank” in an online application that I have to submit for full-time recruiting. Aside from including the names of contacts I spoke with at the bank and firm-specific research on recent deals, should I also incorporate my why IBD “story” too?

I was thinking telling something personal (even in written form) would help me distinguish myself.

You don’t need a really long answer to this question, and in online applications a long answer would be tough to fit in anyway. So I would not go into your own personal background unless you can somehow make it concise and still tie it in to the firm.

Hi, I’m in my final year of sixth form and Goldman Sachs are offering an inset day in their London offices to young girls. Their application includes this question and I’m quite stumped by it. Any suggestions on what you think they’re looking for? We weren’t given the option to choose which division to go into otherwise I would’ve chosen legal and said something about that, instead this seems to be just a general “Why Goldman Sachs?”

Great article!! I have an interview for Market Risk at a BB but am not sure whether to talk about a recent deal when answering, ‘why do you want to work for us’, as that is not really market risk. Do you have any other suggestions that I could talk about?

Judging by what ive read on this website about recruiting and on some other sites too , think all bankers when it comes to recruiting are nothing but hypocrites.
If they themselves went in for the money they dont want the interviewee to say the same

Money is part of it, but not the only reason they are in it. It is also about advancement, prestige, doing something exciting and fast-paced, etc. So yes, there’s some truth to what you say, but other factors contribute as well. Money plays into any decision, but it’s usually not a great idea to talk about it whether you’re applying for a job or anything else…

I’d say something along the lines of “To me, the people I work with and the culture of the bank is the most important. Given the people [perhaps name names] I’ve met at your firm, I think I am a particularly good fit here because of [XYZ] reasons, and [reiterate why you want this bank over anything else].” I’d probably throw a bit of humor and charm into the answer too.

To add to what Nicole said, I would probably say something like, “Well, obviously Goldman is viewed by some people as being among the ‘top’ banks or perhaps the ‘top’ one, so in that sense an offer would be appealing. That said, in my mind GS and your bank are both at the same level in terms of experience, deals, and exposure, and so I would be more inclined to go with you based on the people I’ve met here, such as [Names], and what I’ve heard about the [intern / analyst / associate] experience.”

That way, you acknowledge his objection upfront but then defuse it by pointing out that in reality, “prestige” doesn’t matter past a certain point and you’d pick based on the personal factors instead. But I agree that it is a dumb question.

I’m a little conflicted though. I am a 3rd year undergrad from a non-target in recruitment processes for middle market internships. Because of my lack of experience in IB (I interned in corp. finance) would it still be okay to talk about how I want more experience in deal execution through the larger quantity of deals at their bank as oppose to only working on few large deals in BB? I talked to a MM Director and she actually suggested I mention it in interviews. Thanks.

It’s fine to use that for part of your answer, but I would also go beyond it and have something specific to the bank (people or deals) – because otherwise you’re just explaining why you want to go to any MM bank instead.